With thoughts turning to the summer holidays, we have some great ideas about how you can save money on your vacation.
Everybody looks forward to their two or more weeks of holiday during the summer, but the costs of flying abroad can be high during the main season when the children are off school.
Read our great tips for reducing the costs of your next summer holiday.
Book early for the cheapest flights
Have you noticed how low cost flight operators release blocks of tickets, months in advance.
As soon a companies such as Ryanair and easyJet.com publish their seat availability on their web site, people start to book up so the seats with the best deals soon get sold.
If you have a good idea about when you will be going on holiday, then register with the low cost airlines to ensure that you are notified as soon as possible about new seat availability.
Book those tickets as early as you can when prices, which often change dynamically, are at their lowest.
Find the best value travel insurance
If you are to book your flights or package holiday months in advance then it is important that you have good travel insurance that covers you for the unplanned eventuality.
Did you know that single trip travel insurance policies provide some level of cancellation cover as standard which starts as soon as you purchase the policy, not on your date of travel.
A lot can happen during the months between booking your holiday and actually going away so it makes sense to have your investment in your travel plans protected as far as possible.
Online travel insurance usually offers the most attractive deals.
Save Money Regularly For Your Holiday
Unfortunately that precious holiday is often expensive and can cost thousands of pounds.
Rather than find such a large amount of money to pay for your vacation in one go, it is sensible to put money into savings accounts on a regular basis.
For example if you save £100 every month then you will have accumulated £100 plus any interest over the year which will help to pay for your holiday costs.
Although interest rates on savings accounts are generally low at the moment, you can shop around to find some accounts paying a reasonable interest rate, certainly better than storing you money under the mattress for example!
Arrange Your Foreign Currency At The Best Rates
You may have noticed how foreign currencies fluctuate against each other depending on the mood of the markets and the relative strengths of the countries economic situations.
Whilst we don’t advocate that you become an avid currency speculator, it can save you money if you keep an eye on the value of the pound against the currency that you need for your holiday and exchange your money when the rates seem most favourable.
Balance the timing of exchanging your money to benefit from locking in positive exchange rates and enjoying some returns from the interest earned on any money you save.
Taking your money abroad with a foreign exchange currency card is also a sensible, safe and potentially cheap way of handling the money that you need, whilst on holiday.